Not a coincidence but the start of a trend. The trade surplus for November is in fact confirmed by ISTAT also for the last month of the year, where we begin to see the first concrete signs of the drop in gas prices.
On the sales side (see il sole 24 Ore of 16 February) the data confirm the strength of Made in Italy, which closes the year with a new historic sales record, over 620 billion euros, 104 more than in last year.
The slowdown in December (+13.5%) changes the average slightly, which sees an increase of 20 points. However, it is above all the inflationary effect on price lists that is driving sales up, with average unit values growing by 20 points in 2022 while volumes are stationary, growing by just 0.1%. A gap that becomes even more evident in December, with unit values increasing by 16.3% while volumes are down by 2.4%.
Choral growth in Italy, almost identical between EU and non-EU markets and well distributed also between consumer goods (+19.9%), instrumental (+13%) and intermediate goods (+20.2%), with double a figure that manifests itself in every sector of the economy with the exception of cars, in any case up by eight points.
However, the main change in recent months, as mentioned, is on the purchases side, particularly for energy. If in the summer the monthly expenditure to import gas and crude oil had come close to 15 billion, in October, November and December they return to around 11, allowing some relief to our trade balance.